1 Penny - Victoria Pattern

This 1856 pattern was struck in London — almost certainly at the Royal Mint or by a private contractor such as Heaton — as Nova Scotia negotiated the terms of a new provincial coinage ahead of the issues that would formally circulate from 1861. The colonial authorities were pressing for a decimal cent system aligned with the emerging Canadian monetary framework, and these patterns represent the trial-and-error phase of that negotiation. The Breen reference Br#875 covers a cluster of related trials, and the Haxby MSP-1a designation confirms this as a distinct variety within that group rather than a later restrike.